


All My Lives Belong to You

by Wonderjam



Category: 30歳まで童貞だと魔法使いになれるらしい | Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (Manga), 30歳まで童貞だと魔法使いになれるらしい | Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (TV), Nishiogikubo Mitsuboshi Youshudou (2021)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Kurosawa is Amamiya, M/M, Magic things, literal alternate universe, sort of time travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:27:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29451519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wonderjam/pseuds/Wonderjam
Summary: The Western Liquor Hall only appears to those who needed it most, when they need it most.  When Adachi turns 30 years old, his life starts spinning out of control when he discovers his mind reading ability in the middle of a busy Tokyo street.  At this moment, the bar and its mysterious bartender appears to him.
Relationships: Adachi Kiyoshi/Kurosawa Yuichi
Comments: 22
Kudos: 62





	All My Lives Belong to You

**Author's Note:**

> Whew I had writers block for the longest time aha I wanted to work on a different fic but I watched three star bar today and got inspired! Ngl I'm not sure what I think of it yet but the concept hits a little close to home... I wish Amamiya would give me a cocktail lol. This is sort of (100%) word vomit and it's super mushy but I'll allow myself some cheese because it's valentines <33

Adachi’s 30th birthday started just like any other day. He blinked awake, and looked at his ceiling for the first time through sleep blurred eyes as a 30 year old. A hand, flung out, searching for his phone. He brought the small screen to his face and squinted at it.

**Mom:** _Happy birthday. Take care of yourself_

 **Tsuge:** _Happy birthday._

Adachi tried swiping further. Nothing. He clicked his phone off and closed his eyes again. 

_Well, that was birthday celebrations done._

He was grateful that there even were people who remembered him, but… it was his mom, and Tsuge was his best friend. Adachi couldn’t help but wish that anyone else would go out of their way to remember his birthday, and immediately felt guilty. _Stop it,_ he scolded himself, sitting up clumsily and roughly rubbing at his eyes with his palms. _There are people out there who don’t even get a single birthday wish._ Still, the loneliness lingered like a thick miasma that coiled around his heart as he finally dragged himself out of bed. _Just another year, anyway. It’s not like anything’s going to change._

The day felt a little heavier than usual. Adachi felt like he was moving through tar, limbs feeling like lead. The weighted fog of a bad day pressed down on his shoulders and every movement felt heavy and exhausting. He stood at the crowded crossroads as the throng of morning office workers gathered like worker ants, and yawned tiredly. 

_I can’t wait to get the day over with and go home._

_I agree,_ his sleepy brain supplied. 

_Ugh, I bet my wife is cheating on me._

_Mmhmm,_ his brain mumbled.

_Wait._

Adachi jolted awake in a second. _Wife? What wife?? I don’t have a wife???_

He looked around instinctively, frantic, and accidentally bumped into someone. He spun around to apologize and came face to face with a severe looking middle-aged man. The man simply harrumphed, glared at him, and went back to staring straight ahead at the road crossing. Adachi sheepishly turned back around, mind racing. It dawned on him in a moment of astounding clarity. 

_That thought didn’t belong to me._

The light turned green and the crowd surged forward, and Adachi was immediately bombarded with the random everyday thoughts of the general public. In a split second, it felt like he was drowning. Thoughts ricocheted through his mind, loud and invasive. 

_Watch it!_

_What’s for dinner?_

_Hey!_

_What the hell, is he drunk?_

_What’s his problem?_

_Why isn’t she texting me back?_

_I can’t mess up the presentation today…_

He had to leave, he had to get out of here immediately. He didn’t know where, as long as he got away from all the overwhelming noise, the whirling thoughts in his mind that didn’t belong to him. Adachi shoved through the crowd, blurting apologies that were left to linger in the air and fall upon any unwitting soul who he might have pushed past. Cars sounded their horns as be broke free from the throng. _Too loud, still too loud._ Adachi ran, feet thundering over the concrete pavement. Nothing but more people up ahead. The crossroads of a loud and busy road, roaring with trams and buses and the flashing of billboards above. Adachi skidded to a stop, panting, eyes wild and dark with fear. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to get away. He could feel the panic building in his chest, choking him, eyes growing blurry with the panic of unshed tears. But suddenly, through the metropolitan blur of neon light, a warm, yellow glow. Adachi blinked hard a couple times and squinted. 

_What was that?_

He rubbed at his eyes and looked again. A small alleyway smack the middle of the business district? How strange. Adachi had walked this road many times on the way to work, and he had never noticed it. Panic momentarily forgotten, he wracked his brain. The onigiri man was a few shops down, and there was the fishball stand, then… if not this strange little alleyway, what had stood in its place before? Had it always been there? Adachi blinked. He was certain it had never been here before. The noise of the approaching office workers startled him back to reality. They were closing in on both sides, converging on the big crossroad, and Adachi made a decision. He turned and ran down the alleyway. 

A second later, the crowd descended upon where he stood and no one spared a glance in his direction, because there was nothing to be seen. 

* * *

The second he passed the corner wall that led into the alleyway, a strange feeling overcame his body, like he’d been sucked into some strange vacuum. The first thing that hit him was blessed silence. He could hear the ongoings of the city behind him, but it felt like the noise was muffled through a thick glass window, suddenly blanketed in one swoop. He leaned against the rough brick of the wall behind him for support as he sucked in a deep breath, shakily trying to pull himself together. Once the pounding in his head had subsided a little, the implications of what had just happened began floating insistently to the surface. 

_I can read minds. But how?_

Adachi wracked his brain for anything that had changed since yesterday night. He’d changed up his routine a little and showered before having dinner. He bought a teriyaki beef onigiri instead of his usual double mayo on an impulsive whim (and regretted it after literally taking three steps away from the stall, then shamefacedly going back to buy his usual double mayo anyway). And he’d turned 30 years old. 

A muffled thunk from the city street startled him back to reality. _Just like Urabe-san,_ he thought, who'd always accidentally startled him in the beginning with his habit of slamming his desk drawer shut. _Didn’t Urabe-san mention something some urban legend about turning 30 yesterday? Something about…_

Adachi was starting to get a sinking feeling in his stomach.

 _Something about mind reading._ It came rushing back to him. 

“If you turn 30 a virgin, you’ll become a mind reading magic user!”

It couldn’t be real. Could it? 

Adachi slumped against the wall, heart pounding. How was he supposed to go to work like this? What time was it, he was probably late already. He pulled his sleeve up to check his watch, bracing himself to make the call into work explaining his tardiness, but his watch had just… stopped.

_What?_

Adachi squinted hard at the watch face, staring hard at the second hand. Nothing. It had truly stopped. This watch had never failed him. It was reliable, even when he’d accidentally dropped it in the sink under running water, and in any case, he’d gotten the batteries changed just last month. He pulled his phone out of his trouser pocket and tried to turn it on. The screen flickered a static white, fizzed, and went dark. Adachi stared. What was this place? He stuffed his phone back into his pocket, ready to bolt, but the waving tassels of a small shop suddenly caught his eye. 

The source of the warm yellow light, a small wooden panelled shop stood at the end of the alleyway. It looked old and rickety, but in a way that gave it a warm and inviting feeling. Against his better judgement, Adachi felt himself moving slowly towards it, and the shop seemed to get brighter the closer he got. Was it getting darker? When had it gotten this dark? Had this shop always been here? _How strange,_ Adachi thought to himself for what must have been the billionth time. He was close enough now that he could read the wooden sign, hung carefully on an elaborate metal hook. 

_**Western Liquor Hall.** _

_That’s not very specific,_ Adachi thought, scrunching his face up in confusion. _A bar? What’s a single bar doing here? And why does it seem like I’m the only one who knows it exists?_ There wasn’t any wind getting past the tall brick walls that lined the alleyway, but oddly enough, the tassels that hung over the shopfront were waving merrily as if carried by a light breeze. _Magic,_ Adachi thought. He raised one trembling hand to the heavy wooden door. 

_Is this going to be what changes my fate?_

He looked back, down the alleyway, which now looked like a dark, yawning tunnel to a pinprick of light that was the Tokyo city streets. Adachi steeled himself, turned back to the door and pushed it open. 

* * *

A small silver bell tinkled overhead as the door creaked, and with a rush of heated air, Adachi was standing inside. He immediately found himself staring at a tall, well dressed man. The man stood behind the bar, wearing a grey waistcoat over a muted green shirt and dark purple tie. It would have been an odd combination anywhere else, but it somehow suited him, somehow suited the atmosphere of the strange little bar. The man was looking at him with mild surprise on his face. 

“Ah!” Adachi stammered. “I’m sorry. Am I intruding?” 

The man, probably the bartender, held his gaze just long enough that Adachi was about to look away, but then the bartender smiled, folded his hands together and bowed. “Welcome,” he said. 

For some reason, Adachi felt a strange sense of relief wash over him. The bartender’s voice was extremely pleasant and calming. Adachi gingerly edged a tall chair out from where it was tucked under the bar and sat. 

“We don’t usually get customers this late,” the bartender remarked, with gentle curiosity.

“Late?” Adachi said. “But it’s…” he moved to check his watch again before remembering it had stopped. It still wasn’t moving, but the hands had all changed positions and it was… 2am. 

“Eh! How is it…. It wasn’t even 9am yet!” 

“Ah,” the bartender said, and Adachi thought he sounded apologetic. “Yes, time tends to do that here. The bar has strict opening hours, you see.” This made no sense to Adachi, but he found himself nodding along anyway, wide eyed. The bartender seemed to pick up on his hesitancy. 

“Forgive me,” he said. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a customer at all. This must all seem quite strange.” 

Adachi almost laughed at that. Strange truly seemed to be the word of the day. 

“But I am neglecting my duties. Would you like something to drink?”

“Ah,” Adachi started. “I don’t really… drink alcohol.” He suddenly felt quite silly and looked down at his lap, embarrassed. He’d wandered into a bar and here he was telling the bartender he didn’t really drink alcohol, and he was beginning to question why he’d even come in in the first place. However, the bartender just smiled warmly at him. “No problem,” he said. “There are many other drinks I can make for you.” 

“Oh,” Adachi mumbled, feeling quite relieved. He was feeling quite thirsty after running from his ordeal, so he nodded shyly. “Yes, please.” He trailed off, unsure how to order in a bar or really what else could be ordered in a bar, and the gleaming shelf of liquor behind the bartender looked quite intimidating. Luckily, his answer seemed to be enough for the bartender, who simply bowed again. “Of course,” he said, and set about crafting a drink. 

Adachi tried not to stare, but was quickly transfixed by the bartender’s fluid, purposeful movements. He watched as the bartender laid out a set of steel measuring cups, a stirrer and a gleaming cocktail shaker, then turn around and select a big glass bottle filled with a deep red liquid. The bottle looked heavy, but the bartender seemed to handle it with ease in his big hands, long and elegant fingers wrapped around the neck of the bottle as he poured the liquid into the big half of the measuring cup. It was almost like watching an alchemist mix a potion. Adachi half expected the mixture to start smoking at any second. The bartender deftly pinched the measuring cup between his second and third fingers, tipping it effortlessly into the cocktail shaker. He ducked down, emerging again with a cold can of something Adachi didn’t recognize, crisply popped the tab and emptied the can into the shaker. A rattle of ice cubes, and his long fingers had the lid screwed on in no time, popping the top and holding it steady with a strong thumb. Adachi couldn’t tear his eyes away as the bartender began shaking the cocktail in fluid, practiced motions. The bartender caught his eye and smiled as Adachi blushed and looked away. Another crisp click as the lid came off, Adachi looked up to a gorgeous stream of ombre red being poured into a tall glass. The bartender expertly skewered two maraschino cherries, arranged them carefully in the glass, and slid the completed drink towards Adachi. 

“This is a Shirley Temple.”

Adachi reached for it with shaking hands. “Wow,” was all he could think of to say. 

The glass was cool against his fingertips and he watched the pink bubbles fizz and pop excitedly on the surface. He glanced shyly up at the bartender, who was looking at him expectantly. “Let me try it,” he said, and lifted the glass to his lips. An explosion of cool sweetness on his tongue. Adachi couldn’t put his finger on the taste, but it was sweet and pleasant and he wanted more. “It’s really good,” he whispered, realizing just how parched he was, and drank again. When he put the glass down, he felt much better. 

“Magic!” he said in wonderment, and the bartender smiled. “Yes,” he said. “Yes, it is.” 

The bartender had turned away before Adachi could ask him what he meant. The bartender offered him a napkin, hand outstretched. Adachi reached out to take it, and his fingers brushed against the bartender’s hand. 

_I wonder what brought him here._

Adachi snatched his hand back like he’d just been shocked, cradling it to his chest. Of course. He’d completely forgotten about his newfound power. The despair crashed back into him again like a devastating tidal wave, and he slumped forward, eyes closed and face pained. The bartender had been silent through this, but he broke it now with a tentative question. 

“Are you okay?” his voice was lined with concern. 

“I’m sorry,” Adachi said, quietly. “I don’t know what I’m doing here. I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

There was silence again, and Adachi sighed internally. However magical this place was, surely it would still be hard to explain what had happened without sounding like a lunatic. He didn’t blame the bartender for not knowing what to say. 

But then, the bartender's voice came again, quiet and serious. 

“Perhaps allow me to shed some light on this place,” he started. Adachi opened his eyes, confused. The bartender wasn’t looking at him, but there was an expression of intense focus on his face. “This bar only appears to those who need it most, when they need it most. You might have noticed that at one point, it seemed like you were standing in a different plane than the one out there,” he nodded in the direction of the city streets, and Adachi nodded, eyes wide. “that’s because this place doesn’t really exist in the same space. It just pops up wherever it’s needed, for whoever needs it to find. However, no one is able to find this place. If you’re looking for it, you won’t find it. This bar finds you.” 

Adachi sat back, stunned. He was sitting in a pocket universe that had somehow chosen him. It made sense why his watch had stopped working. 

Adachi looked at the bartender, who had a neutral expression on his face, waiting for Adachi’s reaction. “And you… help the people who come in?”

The bartender shrugged. “I’ve just been a part of this bar for a long time. Wherever it goes, I go. I can’t say I have any specific purpose, but I tried to leave once and I found myself back inside as soon as I walked out the door. All I can say is, everyone has found some solution or other by the time they leave this place.”

“Wait, you can’t leave?”

The bartender smiled forlornly. “Even if I could, there’s nowhere for me to go.”

Seeing the questioning expression on Adachi’s face, he quickly schooled his expression and spoke again. “So, what about you?”

“I think I know why the bar found me,” Adachi said slowly, and the bartender nodded encouragingly. “That’s always good,” he said. 

“This is going to sound insane,” Adachi continued, nervously, glancing up at the bartender to gauge his reaction, but was met with kind but blank stare. Adachi wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Clearly the bartender had a story he wasn’t ready to share, and the creepy blankness with how he’d masked his troubles and was preparing to approach Adachi’s problem like it was his only purpose… that was really weird. If anything, the bartender seemed like a kind person and Adachi wanted to speak to the man, not the bar. He pressed on anyway, having already started the story. 

“I woke up this morning and I was suddenly able to read people’s minds when I touch them.”

The bartender’s eyes have grown wide, but he doesn’t look incredibly taken aback. Adachi wondered what kinds of problems he’d encountered if this didn't seem to faze him that much. 

“Okay,” the bartender said, slowly. “Any idea what might have caused it?”

Adachi blinked. “You believe me?”

“Of course. Why would you lie? It takes a truly great burden for the bar to find someone.”

Adachi didn’t know how much this had been weighing on him until now, and the breath left him in a rush of relief. “Thank you,” he murmured, and the bartender inclined his head, waiting for him to continue.

“I remember my senior telling me about an urban legend yesterday.” Adachi paused, realizing that he was going to have to tell this man that he was still a virgin, and felt a flush of embarrassment. He hadn’t passed any judgment so far though, so Adachi swallowed hard and forced himself to keep talking. “If you’re still a virgin when you turn 30, you’ll become a magic user.” He looked down as he mumbled this last part, unsure if he should be expecting laughter and mockery, but the bartender only looked thoughtful. “I suppose it’s true, then,” the bartender said. “This urban legend.”

Adachi snapped his head up at how understanding this man was being. He felt bad for thinking that he might have laughed at him for being a virgin. “Yes, I suppose it is.”

“Did your senior mention anything else?” 

Adachi thought hard for a moment. “He said I was running out of time… and if it only affects virgins, then…” it was dawning on him what he had to do to rid himself of the magic. Adachi downed the last of his Shirley Temple, trying to delay the inevitable realization that he knew was approaching. He put the glass down.

“I’m going to be stuck as a magic user forever.”

The bartender looked peaceably at him. “Do you want to be?” 

Adachi groaned and thunked his head down on the bar. “Well, no,” he muttered, voice muffled. “But…” Adachi swallowed. “No one… no one is interested. No one wants me.”

“That seems to be the heart of the situation,” the bartender said. “Does it bother you, being a virgin?”

Adachi opened his mouth to reply because of course it should bother him, but then he stopped to really think about it. _Did it bother him?_ He thought of the time he’d overheard the girls in university chattering about him. He’d never really thought about the idea of having a girlfriend before then, or a boyfriend for that matter. He had Tsuge then as a roommate and best friend, and they did everything together. He felt the loneliness a lot more acutely after they graduated, and sometimes found himself craving friendship beyond being a colleague, some kind of companionship in his life. Being a virgin had never really bothered him that much. The bartender was watching him patiently. 

“No,” Adachi said, slowly. 

“And does the magic bother you?”

“I’m not sure,” Adachi mused. “I had a really bad experience discovering it this morning. But I feel like it doesn’t bother me as much as it should.” It was true, he could think of various ways he could adjust his routine to accommodate the magic, like waking up earlier to avoid the crowds on the way to work. He would just have to learn to live with it, and the idea didn’t seem so terrible as opposed to forcing himself into losing his virginity just to get rid of the magic. Adachi met the bartender’s eyes, and suddenly felt a lot lighter than when he first came in. “Thank you,” Adachi said, hoping he sounded as grateful as he felt. The bartender smiled at him. It was a warm smile, one that said he was happy Adachi had managed get to grips with his problem for now, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Of course,” he said, with an air of finality. But Adachi wasn’t done.

“What about you?”

The bartender stopped. He looked caught off guard for a second, vulnerability flashing over his handsome features as if he’d never anticipated the question, but the expression was gone in an instant as he schooled his features back into one of kind politeness. “Don’t worry about me,” he said. “You’re the customer here today.” 

“I don’t want to talk to you as a customer,” Adachi burst out, not knowing where this sudden flash of bravery was coming from. The bartender looked shocked, and Adachi felt his cheeks grow hot. He collected himself for a moment before speaking again, thoughtful. 

“You’ve helped many people with their problems, but who helps you with yours?”

The bartender looked lost. He was staring at Adachi with his mouth open. It was Adachi’s turn to stare patiently back. 

“I…” he shook his head. Adachi waited. “I don’t know how long ago anymore, but I arrived here as a customer just like you.” He was starting to look like he needed a drink himself. “The bartender at the time was an old man, the master of this bar. He couldn’t solve my problem, but I ended up solving his and in doing so freed him from this place. Of course, he wanted to leave. He’d never imagined that he would ever be able to live life outside of this bar. But because he couldn’t solve my problem, I would be stuck here. He offered to stay with me for as long as it took until I could leave as well, but I told him he could go.” The bartender took a shaky breath. “The bar found me because nobody could see past my face. That’s all I ever was to anybody, just eye candy. I was desperate for someone to look past that and see who I was. So when I came here, the way I saw it… if I took his place, I could help people and maybe then they would see the real me.” 

He shook his head sadly. “But I’ve only trapped myself here, now. People usually never return to this place. Because the purpose of this bar is to solve others’ problems, that’s all I’m good for now. Nobody can ever see me as being good for anything else. Nothing has changed.”

There was a heavy silence as the bartender finished his story. 

Adachi considered this carefully. He felt terrible for the bartender, but if he’d found a way out of his own impossible situation, surely there had to be a solution for the bartender too. 

“What’s your name?”

“Eh?” the bartender looked up. 

“What’s your name?” Adachi repeated. 

The bartender considered him for a minute. “Kurosawa Yuichi,” he finally said, with a slight bow. He was smiling a little now, the corners of his eyes crinkling up. “No one’s ever asked me that,” he said. 

“Kurosawa,” Adachi said, and saw how Kurosawa visibly melted at the sound of his name. “I came here with many fears. As I spoke about my problems, I discovered fears I didn’t even know I had, issues that anybody else would judge me harshly for. I told you I could read minds, I told you I was still a virgin and it didn’t bother me like people would expect it to. I expected to be laughed at, to be mocked, and… you did none of that.”

Kurosawa’s eyes were wide, fixed on Adachi’s face. He was listening with rapt attention, a far cry from the distant and professional demeanour he had earlier, clearly starved of validation. 

“Even though we are strangers, you listened to me with kindness,” Adachi said, resolutely. “I’ve only known you today, but I do know that not many people would show the same kindness and understanding, especially to someone they don’t know.”

Kurosawa’s eyes looked suspiciously shiny. Adachi took a deep breath. 

“Kurosawa,” he said earnestly, and Kurosawa leaned even closer, eyes desperate and pleading. “You’ve shown me the kind of person you are, and I am infinitely grateful to you for that.”

Kurosawa’s eyes were wide and frantic, searching Adachi’s face. “You really mean that?”

Adachi hoped he would be able to convey all the sincerity he had into these next words.

“I do.”

Something seemed to break inside Kurosawa then, and he turned away to compose himself, back heaving as he took deep, shuddering breaths. 

Finally, he turned around to face Adachi again.

“You should go,” Kurosawa breathed. “I don’t want the bar to take you in my place.”

Adachi’s heart stuttered. “What?”

Kurosawa looked pained. “This bar has never been left unattended for as long as it has existed. I’m not about to find out what’s going to happen now, not while you’re still here.”

“I’ll walk out first, and you can walk out after me!” Adachi said, frantic, but they both knew that this was approaching a conclusion neither wanted to acknowledge. “The second you leave this space,” Kurosawa said quietly, “the bar will move to whoever needs it next. I’ve not stepped foot outside, but judging from the people who come in, it usually moves very, very far away to a random location. I don’t know where it will go.”

“Will… will I ever see you again?” 

Silence, quiet devastation. 

The bartender smiled sadly. Adachi wanted so badly to take the pain away from him. 

“What’s your name?”

“Adachi Kiyoshi,” Adachi breathed. “I arrived here from Tokyo.”

“Adachi,” Kurosawa said, and it just sounded _right._

Adachi blinked the tears back. He’d barely known this man for five minutes, but something just felt like it was meant to be, a puzzle piece slotting into its place in the fabric of the universe. He had to see Kurosawa again. _He had to._

“Adachi,” Kurosawa said again. He had moved out from behind the bar and was now standing next to Adachi. He was standing so close that Adachi he could feel the body heat radiating from Kurosawa, smell the comforting spice of his cologne. Kurosawa was staring at him with an intensity that bordered on desperation. Now, without the bar separating them, both of them had never felt so vulnerable before. They started out as two strangers, had bared their souls to each other, and Adachi had never felt so close to anyone in his life. 

“I could stay here,” Adachi whispered. “I could stay here with you.”

Kurosawa shook his head, pained. “It’s no life at all, Adachi,” he murmured. “I couldn’t do that to you.”

Kurosawa tentatively reached out, hand hovering over Adachi’s shoulder. Adachi nodded at him almost reverently and Kurosawa pressed his warm palm to the junction of Adachi’s shoulder, fingers curling around the back of his neck. It felt like coming home. Kurosawa’s thoughts curled like warm, comforting tendrils in his mind. 

_Adachi is special to me. I can’t lose him. I know that all I’ve done has been building up to this moment._

They stood like that for a while, eyes locked, trying desperately to memorize every feature of the other’s face. Finally, after what felt like forever but simultaneously not long enough, Kurosawa pulled away. 

“Come on,” he said gently. “I’ll walk you out.”

Adachi wanted to scream. He wanted to protest, say no, sit here with Kurosawa for as long as it took and wrack his brain for a solution to get them both out. But he did none of these things, because he couldn’t think of anything he could possibly do that would make a difference. He moved on autopilot, Kurosawa’s large hand warm on his lower back and leading him to the door. 

_Is this the last time I’m going to get to do this? If I never see him again, I must send him off with a smile._

Kurosawa let his hand fall away and Adachi felt bereft. He felt tears spring to his eyes at the thought that he would never have this again, never feel this whole and accepted in a way he hadn’t felt before, never be able to see Kurosawa again and see him for all that he was. 

Kurosawa placed a heavy hand on the doorknob and turned to look at Adachi. In his eyes he held all the pain and sadness of the world. “I’m not going to say goodbye,” Adachi choked out. “I won’t.”

Kurosawa didn’t say anything. He just smiled sadly at Adachi. His hand tightened on the doorknob but he looked like he couldn’t bring himself to turn it. “I feel like I’ve known you my whole life,” he said instead. 

Adachi remained silent, because if he tried to speak he wouldn’t be able to stop the tears. Kurosawa took a deep breath, visibly gathered his strength and pulled the door open. Instead of the long, black tunnel that Adachi remembered seeing, it looked like there was a shimmering, opaque sheet that filled the door frame. Beyond it, Adachi could see the vague shapes and silhouettes of the bustling Tokyo streets. He looked desperately back at Kurosawa, hoping and hoping he would change his mind, close the door and allow Adachi to stay. But Kurosawa stared longingly out through the doorframe, not meeting Adachi’s eyes.

“I know I’ll find you in another life if I don’t find you in this one.”

“Promise you’ll try to find me,” Adachi said. He pressed his hand to Kurosawa’s chest, over his heart. Kurosawa sucked in a breath and finally met Adachi’s eyes. Adachi looked up, and Kurosawa had a new, steely look in his eye, a determined set to his jaw. “I’m going to find you,” Kurosawa promised. “I’m going to get out of here, and I’m going to find you.” He reached up and grasped Adachi’s smaller hand in his own, holding it against his chest. “I’ll see you one day, Adachi Kiyoshi,” Kurosawa whispered, and Adachi found himself falling, as if being sucked through a vacuum again, further and further away from Kurosawa. He opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out, and he tried to reach for Kurosawa but he was getting smaller and smaller and so far out of Adachi’s reach, and the next thing he knew he was landing hard on the concrete pavement, his arm outstretched and the noise of the city rushing back into his ears. 

People jumped aside and shot him strange glances, but no one seemed to think his sudden appearance was stranger than him just tripping over his own feet. Adachi scrambled upright, not caring about the weird glances thrown his way. Where he’d run down the alleyway was now a solid brick wall. Adachi ran up to it, half hoping it would give way, and skidding to a stop when it didn’t. He pressed his hand to the wall, despair and disbelief coursing through him in equal measure. The bar was gone. Kurosawa was gone. How much time had passed? He yanked his sleeve up to check his watch. 

_8:30am._

No time had passed at all in the real world. 

It was on a Thursday that Adachi stood in the middle of a busy Tokyo street, silent tears streaming down his face, feeling as if he’d lost a piece of himself. 

* * *

Adachi drifted through the next few days in a haze. Days passed, then weeks, then months. _Kurosawa would need time to figure something out, right?_ Adachi told himself. _I’m not waiting for nothing._

With nothing to prove that Kurosawa was real, even to himself, Adachi clung to his memories, replaying them as much as he could. Once, he tried putting his own hand on his shoulder to remember the feeling of Kurosawa’s hand on him, but it didn’t feel anything like it at all. He felt like he was going insane. _Had that truly happened? Did he just have a crazy dream?_

Fujisaki at the office noticed the change in his behaviour. They weren’t close, but had spoken a couple times and had formed a sort of amiable rapport in the office. He was fine, he assured her numerous times, knowing that if he even tried to explain he would sound absolutely insane. Or maybe he was afraid that by saying it out loud, he would realize how crazy he sounded and write the incident off as a fever dream after all. She finally pulled him aside one day when the meeting rooms were free. 

“Adachi-kun,” she started, already sounding worried. “You haven’t been yourself for months. What’s wrong?”

“I’m fine, Fujisaki-san,” Adachi insisted, rubbing roughly at his eyes. He tried to leave the meeting room, but Fujisaki blocked his path. “Talk to me, Adachi,” she said. “I might not be able to help, but clearly something’s been eating at you for a long time.”

Adachi sighed. He felt bad, Fujisaki was just trying to help. 

“This is going to sound insane,” he said, tiredly. At this point, he wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince. “I went to… I sort of found a bar.” Fujisaki had been listening attentively, but at this, her eyes widened. 

“I met someone there,” Adachi continued, “and they helped me a lot, but-” he swallowed hard, took a deep breath. “I think I’m never going to see them again.” He wasn’t going to cry in the office. He was not. 

For a few moments, Fujisaki didn’t say anything. Adachi didn’t expect her to, but he did feel better after keeping it to himself for so long. “Thanks for listening, Fujisaki-san,” he said. “I’m sorry for making you worry.” He made to get up, but Fujisaki interrupted him. “Was the name of the bar… the Western Liquor Hall?” 

Adachi’s mouth dropped open in shock and he spun around so fast he almost made himself dizzy. “Yes! Yes, it was!” he exclaimed. Relief rushed through his body and he was virtually vibrating with the most energy he’d had in months. “So I wasn’t dreaming after all,” Fujisaki breathed, looking equally as shocked. 

Adachi’s heart was pounding, revelling in this newfound hope that Fujisaki had given him. _Kurosawa was real after all!_ “When did you-?”

“I think it’s been 7 years,” Fujisaki murmured. “I thought I was going crazy.”

“Thank god it’s real,” Adachi gasped. “So did I.”

“Were you talking about the bartender? Tall, good-looking man, about the same age as you.” 

_Kurosawa. It had to be._

Which meant… he’d been at the bar for at least 7 years. 

“Yes. Yes, that’s him,” Adachi said, dumbstruck and still not quite believing what was happening. He was filled with newfound vigour now, knowing it wasn’t just a dream. He would continue waiting for as long as it took. “He said he would try to find me,” he said, and Fujisaki looked confused. “Didn’t he say he wouldn’t be able to-?” 

“I think we might have figured something out,” Adachi said. They had indeed managed to solve Kurosawa’s problem, it was just that a new one had sprung up in its place. Adachi also refused to entertain the idea that Kurosawa would be stuck there forever, in a different universe, never to see Adachi again. Fujisaki dipped her head in sympathy. 

All Adachi had to do was to continue waiting. 

* * *

Soon enough, almost a year had gone by. 

By now, Adachi and Fujisaki had grown a lot closer as friends. 

“Fujisaki-san,” Adachi had asked one day, hesitantly. “Why did the bar find you?” 

“Oh,” Fujisaki said. “It was… well, my mom really wanted me to settle down and find a boyfriend. I wasn’t interested. It led to… well.” Fujisaki looked away for a second. 

“Ah, you don’t have to talk about it anymore,” Adachi rushed to say, but Fujisaki shook her head and continued. “It’s fine, Adachi. We had a pretty big fight. I ran off that night, and that’s when I found the bar.” She looked distant, obviously remembering, then blinked and looked back at Adachi with a small smile. “But I’m here now, aren’t I? The bartender helped me find a solution. I owe him for that. I wish I could go back and tell him how grateful I am that things worked out.”

Adachi nodded, taking this in. He would never have guessed this about Fujisaki, but he supposed everyone carried hidden burdens with them all the time. 

“What about you, Adachi-kun?”

“Ah,” Adachi stuttered, but when he stopped to think about it, if Fujisaki had visited the magical bar as well then surely she wouldn’t react too badly to his magic. Still, telling people for the first time didn’t get any less nerve wracking. “I can read the minds of people I touch,” he said in one quick breath. Fujisaki raised her eyebrows in surprise. Adachi watched as various emotions flitted across her face, but she seemed to come to terms with it pretty quickly as her expression settled into its usual serene look. “There are many unexplainable things out in the world, aren’t there, Adachi-kun?” was all she said. Adachi could only nod in agreement.

* * *

Two years had drifted by. 

Unfortunately, waiting was the one thing that didn’t get easier with time. Another thing that weighed on Adachi was the mind reading. Although he had mostly gotten used to living with it, he was wholly unprepared for the previously unknown guilt he felt after unconsciously hearing people’s thoughts, as well as the newfound layer of anxiety that no one around him could understand. 

Maybe it had just been a bad day, or a bad week, or a bad month. Adachi couldn’t tell anymore. All he knew was that he’d finally left the office at 1am after hours of overtime, he had left the building and had begun walking aimlessly in one direction. He didn’t know where he was going and he didn’t really care. The mind reading had made him hypersensitive to avoiding touch, and he wouldn’t allow himself to accept casual touches, hugs, or handshakes whenever he could because of the overwhelming guilt he felt when he listened to someone’s thoughts without them knowing. It was incredibly isolating, even pushing people further away when they mistook it as being unwelcome, and Adachi was tired. The neon billboard lights were blinding in the night, and as Adachi blinked he realized he’d somehow ended up at the place where he’d first found the alleyway. He touched one hand to the cool brick wall, letting his head fall forward. He closed his eyes, trying to imagine the feeling of being in the bar with Kurosawa again. It was hard to imagine what being whole felt like when Adachi had felt empty for so long. He squeezed his eyes shut even tighter.

_Please, let me find Kurosawa again._

* * *

“We’re getting a new hire today,” Fujisaki informed Adachi. “In the sales department.”

“Oh, okay,” Adachi responded. It meant that at some point, the boss would come around with their new colleague and inevitably ask someone to show them around the floor. 

In the past year they’d gotten another new hire in sales, a fresh-faced graduate named Rokkaku Yuta. He was very enthusiastic and friendly, but when Adachi had accidentally brushed past him once, his thoughts revealed that the enthusiasm he showed sometimes got the better of him. After Adachi had bailed him out of a dinner where he was just too exhausted to keep up with wine drunk bosses, Rokkaku had taken to sticking to him like a puppy covered in glue. Adachi supposed the sales department was short on people lately.

The morning passed by in relative normalcy. It was around midday when the lift door opened, and Adachi heard the commotion of their boss approaching the office from the hallway. “-this floor is where your desk will be. The sales, marketing and data analytics departments are all here,” Adachi heard his boss’ voice coming closer and closer, and without looking up wondered vaguely about what kind of person the new hire would be. “Of course,” a smooth, very familiar voice cut in, and Adachi’s heart stopped. 

_It couldn’t be._

His head snapped up just as the boss walked into the office with…

“Kurosawa!”

It was as if everything around them had suddenly stopped, and there was only the two of them, looking across the room at each other. Kurosawa looked exactly the same as he remembered. He’d swapped out the green shirt for a dark blue three-piece suit and was carrying a brown leather bag in one hand. His soft brown hair was combed slightly differently, but it was unmistakeably Kurosawa. Kurosawa stopped, and for one terrifying second Adachi thought he’d made a dreadful mistake. But Kurosawa had a wild look in his eyes, lips parted in shock at the sound of Adachi’s voice. His eyes landed on Adachi almost immediately, roving over his face, and when their eyes finally met Kurosawa’s face into split into the biggest, most joyous smile Adachi had ever seen, the corners of his eyes crinkling in genuine delight. Adachi was sure he looked no different, his mouth already aching from the force of a grin he simply couldn’t hold back. Adachi was already standing up as Kurosawa strode towards him, and they stopped in front of each other, hardly daring to believe what was happening. “Kurosawa,” Adachi breathed. “Is it really you?” Kurosawa hadn’t stopped grinning. “Adachi,” he said, wonder in his voice. “Adachi, it’s really me.”

“I waited for you,” Adachi whispered, and Kurosawa’s eyes grew soft and fond at his words, gazing at Adachi like he’d hung the moon. “How did you do it?”

“I think you’re the one who did it, Adachi,” Kurosawa said quietly. “After you left, I tried to follow you but I always ended back up in the bar because there was no one else to watch it. I think I’ve just figured it out, though.” Kurosawa favoured him with another blinding smile, eyes warm. Adachi had forgotten just how much he missed Kurosawa’s smile. “It seems not so long ago that something has changed… it’s not the bar that appears to you when you need it most anymore. It’s me.” 

Adachi felt like he was dreaming. Kurosawa was real. Kurosawa was real and he was _here,_ standing right in front of him after so long, and Adachi barely knew where to start. “I’m here now, Adachi,” Kurosawa whispered reverently. He smiled, slow and warm, and it was like the sun coming out from behind the clouds, bathing Adachi in its warm glow after years of rain. Adachi knew that he would never let Kurosawa go ever again. “We’ve got this entire lifetime ahead of us.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Happy valentines to Kurodachi <3 Hope you enjoyed the story \o/


End file.
